The vast reaches of forest and open fields of
southern Illinois, combined with the sparse population in some areas,
seem to invite weirdness that might not occur in cities and more crowded
locales. In the most southern portions of the region, the Shawnee
National Forest covers miles and miles of territory. The acres of forest
seem almost untouched by man and some believe that strange things
occasionally pass through here, unseen by human eyes.

In the summer of 1973, the town of Murphysboro in
southwestern Illinois was the site of a bizarre series of monster
sightings. The enigmatic creature, now recalled as the “Murphysboro Mud
Monster” appeared without warning and then suddenly disappeared just two
weeks later, seemingly without a trace. In its wake, the monster left a
number of confused and frightened witnesses, baffled law enforcement
officials and of course, an enduring legend.

The monster was first seen around midnight on June
25, 1973. A young couple, Randy Needham and Judy Johnson, were parked
near a boat ramp into the Big Muddy River near Murphysboro when they
heard a strange, roaring cry that shattered the stillness of the night.
It came from the nearby woods and both of them looked up to see a huge
shape lumbering toward them. Whatever it was, it continue to make the
horrible sound and they later described the noise as "something not
human".

According to their account, the monster was about
seven feet tall and covered with a matted, whitish hair. The "fur" was
streaked liberally with mud from the river. By the time the creature
approached to within 20 feet of them, they quickly left the scene. They
went directly to the Murphysboro police station.

A short time later, Officers Meryl Lindsay and Jimmie
Nash returned to the area and surveyed the scene. Although skeptical,
they were surprised to find that a number of footprints had been left in
the mud. The footprints were "approximately 10-12 inches long and
approximately three inches wide". At 2:00 AM, Nash, Lindsay, another
officer named Bob Scott, and Randy Needham returned to the scene again.
This time, they discovered more tracks and Lindsay left to go and get a
camera. The others followed the new footprints, tracing their path along
the river.

Suddenly, from the woods about 100 yards away, came
the creature's terrifying scream. They didn't wait to see if they could
spot the monster and instead, made a quick retreat for the patrol car.
After waiting in the darkness for a little while, they got back out
again and spent the rest of the night trying to track down a splashing
sound they heard in the distance. Things quieted down after daylight,
but the next night, the creature was back!

The first to see the monster this time was a
four-year old boy named Christian Baril, who told his parents that he
saw a "big white ghost in the yard". They didn't believe him, but when
Randy Creath and Cheryl Ray saw an identical monster in a neighboring
yard just ten minutes later, Christian's parents, and the police,
quickly reconsidered the little boy's statement.

Randy and Cheryl spotted the monster at about 10:30
PM, while sitting on the back porch of the Ray house. They heard the
sound of something moving in the woods near the river and then spotted
the muddy, white creature staring at them with glowing pink eyes. Cheryl
would insist that the eyes were actually glowing and were not reflecting
light from some other source. They estimated that it weighed at least
350 pounds, stood seven feet tall, had a roundish head and long,
ape-like arms. Cheryl turned on the porch light and Randy went for a
closer look. The creature seemed unconcerned and finally ambled off into
the woods. Investigators would later find a trail of broken tree
branches and crushed undergrowth, along with a number of large
footprints. They also noticed a strong odor left in the monster's wake,
but it didn't last for very long.

The officers who arrived on the scene, Jimmie Nash
and Ronald Manwaring, quickly summoned a local man named Jerry Nellis,
who had a trained German Shepherd that was often used by the police
department as an attack dog and to search buildings and track suspects.
The dog immediately was sent in pursuit of the monster. He managed to
track the creature through the woods and down a hill to a small pond.
Eventually, the trees and undergrowth became too thick for the dog to
continue and it was pulled off the track just moments after almost
pulling its handler down a steep embankment. The officers began
searching the area with flashlights and the dog began sniffing near the
trees, hoping to pick up the scent again. He then set off toward an
abandoned barn, but refused to go inside. In fact, the animal began
shaking with fear and barking.

Nellis called the two officers over and they opened
the barn and went inside. After a few moments, they realized that it was
empty. The three men were puzzled. The dog had been trained to search
buildings and Nellis could not explain why it had refused to enter the
barn. A short time later, the search was called off for the night.

The Mud Monster was reported two more times that
summer. On the night of July 4, traveling carnival workers stated that
they spotted the creature looking at some Shetland ponies that were
being used for the holiday celebration. Then, on July 7, Mrs. Nedra
Green heard a screaming sound coming from a shed on her rural farm. She
did not go out to investigate.

So what was the Murphysboro Mud Monster? Local
authorities admitted that they didn't know. "A lot of things in life are
unexplained," Police Chief Toby Berger admitted at the time, "and this
is another one. We don't know what the creature is, but we do believe
what these people saw was real."

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
newspaper, the Mud Monster emerged again as a possible culprit to an
attack that allegedly occurred at the Rend Lake campground near Benton
in August 1989. During the attack, gaping holes were left in a tent and
animal blood was left behind at the scene. The attack was later
determined to have been from dogs, but that didn’t stop local residents
from speculating about the Murphysboro Mud Monster again!

In the 1989 newspaper reports, Jerry Nellis, the dog
handler in the original case stated his own theories on the famous case,
which left he and the other witnesses to the events as “hunted” as the
Mud Monster itself. Reporters and “monster hunters” came from everywhere
asking questions about the case but Nellis maintained that "in my
opinion ... we were tracking a bear."

But for the rest of Southern Illinois (the news story
continued) and for every outdoorsman who has, as Nellis suggests, "seen
something we can't make out just beyond the headlights," that original
vision reported to police on June 25, 1973, is all we need to imagine.